Merry Christmas! The Grinch & Co...

 I know I'm a wee bit late, but - as some of you may know - I work in a hospital (Operating Theatre Domestic) and so like many key workers I was working on Christmas Day. Because of that my festivities have been a little delayed and all of a sudden it's the 27th! 😁

...So, the big question is - did I manage to get my nutcracker gifts completes in time?

Well, mostly!😏

First off, I did complete my Grinch (one down, 12 to go)...

I must just say that I'm a bit unhappy that I mixed styles with this one, it was an experiment that didn't entirely come of. Plonking a sculpted head onto my simplified peg style of body was perhaps a mistake? In future, if I want to model a caricature I should maybe sculpt the whole figure in order that the final figure has a consistent look.

Anyway, onto the next job, or I should say 'jobs' as I decided I really needed to pick up the pace. I had just a week to go before I handed out my gifts. I decided to work through the group two or three at a time...

At this point, my main attention was my 'lumberjack' as this was a gift
for a work colleague and had to be ready before the rest of my figures.

This turned out to not to be such a chore as it meant I could paint some of one figure and while that dried I could paint some parts of another. And so I went, back and forth, until I had a completed set - as usual I finished on the facial features before the slightly traumatic varnishing stage (more on that later).

I should explain at this point that, because of the rush to get these gifts ready in time, I did not have the luxury of being able to much about - in my usual half-arsed way - setting up a proper completion photo. Instead I had to be content with a rushed snap with my mobile phone! Still, the pics didn't turn out too bad.

I was actually quite pleased with the base I came up with for my lumberjack. It was a piece of a branch - a set of which I discovered at our local craft store. It seemed very appropriate! And weighed a good deal more than my usual small MDF bases!

About the bases. I realised, a little too late, that my small round (30mm x 3mm) MDF bases were not really such a good choice as these tall nutcracker figures are a little top heavy. The stability of the based figures came into question (I kept knocking them over with the slightest touch) and I had to think of an remedial modification.

What I came up with was to add a 30mm steel washer to the bottom of the MDF base. This extra weight added just a little extra weight and provided a little more stability to the model...

In future, I will have to rethink my base design for full sized peg figures and come up with a far more stable platform.

Anyway, time was ticking away - 19, 20, 21, 22, 23... 😲

I made a bit of a mess of recording the above models (I didn't photograph them in proper order), but I was in panic mode by this time. Christmas Eve and I still had two more models to complete. I mean, I hadn't even started painting them yet...

The last models are a pair of Christmas elves loosely based of my youngest daughter's favourite Christmas movie - 'Elf'. Though I have taken a bit of liberty and created a 'bad elf' and a 'good elf'.

However, while I'd love to tell you that there was a happy ending to this Christmas tale and that I managed to finished the last models by the skin of my teeth I'm afraid I can't. 😕

Christmas Eve arrived and I was starting to flag. As I mentioned I was still working and my energy was sapped. I made an effort and was still working at 11pm but I knew it was a lost cause as the major sticking point (literally) was the varnishing!

I have been applying a spray lacquer and aerosol paints are a little sensitive to temperatures. We've been having a cold wet snap and with my man-cave out of action I've been having to revert to spraying in our back yard. Not ideal. The varnish has been taken over-long to cure and remained tacky longer than usual, despite my placing the varnished figures near our radiators.

The upshot was that I knew I did not have a chance of completing the last two nutcrackers in time and this is how far I got by Christmas morning...

I still have the arms to complete before even getting to the dreaded varnishing. So, I had to accept defeat and settle for 6 nutcrackers each for my daughters instead of 7. I guess that's not a biggy, but I was annoyed at my own lack of planning. Next year I will definitely start my gift making a lot earlier!

The good news was that my daughters - Stacey and Kayleigh - were delighted  with what they received. And we all had a wonderful Christmas (despite the current lockdown restrictions).

I hope you all had as enjoyable festive season that I have. MERRY CHRISTMAS! 🎅